How to paste a folder into a different folder?

Your difficulty arrises because of the way List view works.

The topmost folder (the one who's name is in the title bar) is the "target" of any paste action.

The target is not any folder you have selected in the hierarchy.

It is easier to drag and drop than copy and paste, but if you want to continue to copy and paste, open the desired target in its own window, then paste.

Resize the window so that there is empty space, or select any item in the folder, Command-click it, and then paste.

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LesMikesell wrote:

Does that mean it is impossible to do with the mouse in list view where the parent is not a selectable target?

No. If you insist on using the mouse, select any non-folder and Select "Paste Item" from the Finder "Edit" menu. Otherwise, yes, it's impossible.

How do you make a line like that appear...

I don't know what that means. You don't need to make anything appear.

You can option-drag an icon into a Finder List View window populated with nothing but folders, even if there is no space below that list (or above, if that were even possible). The window can be the full height of the display, or not, doesn't matter, regardless of the particular monitor dimensions or display resolution.

Just don't drag it onto text. It works. I have never had a need to copy and paste. Option-drag. That's all. How hard can this be.

Perhaps this will help. Excerpted from Move items into folders - Mac help:

Keep an item in its original location and put a copy in a folder: Press and hold the Option key, then drag the item to the folder.

If that folder is already open, you can option-drag it to the folder icon in that window's title bar, but it will also work if you drag it to a white space as I already explained.

I think most of these answers are missing the point that I have the target folder open in the view that you get by double-clicking it and setting 'list' view.

The folder to which you want to paste must be listed in the title bar of the window. The destination does not need to be in List View. But, it has to be the folder whose name is in the Title bar of the active window.

You can paste into the selected folder in Column View because it is the Active folder. You can select many subfolders in List View, but none of those are the active folder. The folder whose name appears in the title bar of that window is the active folder.

If you are in Column View and have multiple items selected, the Active folder is the parent of all the selected items.

However you make the desired destination the active folder doesn't matter. You must make it the active folder.

LesMikesell wrote:

I think most of these answers are missing the point that I have the target folder open in the view that you get by double-clicking it and setting 'list' view.

Okay, will try once more. Here is the "Pictures" window in List View where you only see the contents…

I copy the "untitled folder" that's on the desktop. I make the Finder window active.

I press "command+v" and voila. The "untitled folder" is now in the "Pictures" folder.

before

during

after

If you really have no white space and don't want to create any, then option-drag the item onto the title bar icon (the blue folder icon at the top of that window, to the left of "A folder of folders").

Copy to open folder and drag to new folder

or

Copy from SOURCE folder, highlight destination then Control-click on destination folder, select paste

I didn't say anything about command-clicking

What you need to do is, after you "Copy" the folder you want to move, Select the folder you want to copy it into, right-click on that folder and choose "Paste Item".

Mac_slide wrote:

Copy to open folder and drag to new folder

You really should read the posts more carefully. The user didn't want to use drag.

Copy from SOURCE folder, highlight destination then Control-click on destination folder, select paste

That's what I said all along.

LesMikesell wrote:

You don't need a contextual menu in that case. Just paste (cmd-v, or cmd-opt-v to Move).

You do if you are in List View and want to paste into a specific subfolder of the hierarchy, then you need to ensure the destination folder is the only selected folder, and then use the contextual menu item. If you have multiple items selected, you cannot paste from the contextual menu. A contextual menu isn't a shortcut for the main menu commands. It is a specialized menu designed for the thing you have selected.

Does that mean it is impossible to do with the mouse in list view where the parent is not a selectable target? I don't want to have to remember all the quirks of cmd/option/control key variations across different OS versions, and if I wanted to use the keyboard I'd have opened a terminal window and typed the paths in to avoid the inconsistency in the first place.

How would the parent never be selectable? Do you mean it is the active window? Then don't right-click. It makes no sense. If don't want to use the keyboard, go up to the Edit menu and select Paste. Or, better yet, use the Mac like it was designed and drag and drop instead of using the menu commands.

If you don't want to remember all of the "quirks," then don't use different OS's. You can install Windows on your Mac. Just use that exclusively.

My file names fill the space you are dropping in.

In that case just option-drag to that window title's icon.

However I still can't right-click paste there because it selects the line as a side effect.

That's one reason I don't do it.

Barney-15E wrote:

This doesn't seem to be sinking in. A right-click (or Secondary Click) is not meant to provide an alternative menu like in Windows. It is meant to perform an action on something that is selected. White space is not something, so when you right-click, it tries to find the nearest thing to select. Otherwise, the contextual menu would be blank because there is nothing that does something to nothing.

Exactly.

LesMikesell wrote:

Barney-15E wrote:

You don't right-click. You just paste.

The option to right-click and paste offered by dialabrain is a method of establishing the Active folder. The one you right-click is the active folder. However, if you have multiple selected, it is not the active folder.

I want to paste by picking paste from the context menu. How do you get a context menu offering paste without right-clicking? Or without the side effect of selecting the sub-folder that appears under the cursor when there is no empty space in the target window.

You don't need a contextual menu in that case. Just paste (cmd-v, or cmd-opt-v to Move).

You do if you are in List View and want to paste into a specific subfolder of the hierarchy, then you need to ensure the destination folder is the only selected folder, and then use the contextual menu item. If you have multiple items selected, you cannot paste from the contextual menu. A contextual menu isn't a shortcut for the main menu commands. It is a specialized menu designed for the thing you have selected.